Breaking the Ice
by tigerhorse
Summary: Toshiro and Momo are split by certain events in the battle against Aizen, leaving Toshiro wallowing in doubt, and Momo scared of the smallest things having to do with her Shiro-chan. SPOILER ALERT. Rated M for violence and eventually sexually suggestive themes.
1. Introduction

******Hello people! I'm back with another story, only this time it's Bleach and not Soul Eater :)**

**I'm at a bit of a loss for where to go with my Soul Eater fanfics, but I suppose I'll write on them again eventually ^^;**

**Chapters will be much longer then this intro, I merely just wanted to start of the story with this. I WILL WARN YOU NOW, THERE ARE SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 293 AND BEYOND.**

**I suppose eventually there may be slightly graphic content in here, thus why it is rated M.**

**Enjoy! (And no, I'm not the glorious owner of this fantastic series. I don't own anything accept this storyline.)**

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**Introduction**

Her eyes slowly fluttered open, the irises behind the lids filled with a fear and misunderstanding. She could feel the blade inside of her body, but not the pain. The blood leaked down the blade as Aizen's illusion faded, and everyone stared in astonishment at what had happened. The one who had plunged his blade into her was shaking now, she could feel him shaking next to her. They glided slowly to the ground, not uttering a word, or even a breath.

When they touched the ground, her head rolled around and into his chest, "Sh-shiro-chan?" she paused and looked to the sky, finally feeling the blood rushing out of her wound, "Why?"

His shock snapped like a tight cord and tore a tremendous scream from his mouth. Everyone around winced from the pain that oozed from his expression, to his tense body, and to the noises he was now making. She was passing into unconsciousness, and maybe even fatality.

The thoughts rushing through his head were scrambled, and not planned out. He set her down, and charged recklessly, his eyes filled with a mixture of rage and fear. The man who was his target muttered something incomprehensible, and raised his sword. In the next moment, everybody was shrieking his name, and then flash stepping towards the man who was their enemy. The boy who was in pain had fallen, quite literally. His left side had been slashed mercilessly, and he finally understood what Aizen had mutter, "You're full of openings."

He plummeted.

He was bleeding. He didn't care. People were dying, trying to cut down their one common enemy. He didn't care. His wound was one that might make him die. He didn't care. The one who actually emotionally touched him was dying.

He cared so much, that maybe he would die of heart break instead of this profuse bleeding.

Trying to scrample to her on all fours, he shakily slipped on his own blood and fell, losing consciousness. Toshiro Hitsugaya would never trust himself again, but he would do anything and everything in his being to protect that girl.

"I... Love you... Hinamori..." What he would think to be his dying thought.

He was satisfied with the death of such a monster.

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**I'll try not to leave it on a cliffy for too long, this time ;)**


	2. The Awakening

**Hello my good people! I'm back with another chapter!**

**I'm just warning you, the psychology in this chapter is going to tease you, because our little Shiro-chan is indecisive and in pain xD**

**Anywho, enjoy!**

**Oh, I don't own Bleach... (I wish o.o)**

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Chapter 1: The Awakening

She regained consciousness numerous times, all flashes of vision and then suddenly black again. At first, she woke up with harsh pangs, coming from her midsection, where she had been stabbed. The flashes of vision revealed she was being moved, and healed. She remembered Unohana-san looking at her wounds in an extremely worried manner, and handing her over to squad twelve. Why she was in the research and development department, she didn't know.

Subconsciously trying to put the facts together was exhausting. This was especially true when one was trying to retain their life. Finally, she was waking for a duration longer then a mere moment.

When her eyes opened, her breathing was shallow, and she saw people in the background. She felt a weird sensation in her midsection, near the wound. As she looked around through slitted eyes, she realized she was still in squad twelve's barracks. They appeared to be regenerating her internal organs. Closing her eyes, she decided to spend her energy not on assessing her surroundings, but to think of how she got here.

She remembered falling, and feeling a great sense of not understanding what had just happened. Hinamori remembered being held by the one, who to here, betrayed her, and the pain he emitted afterwords.

But, the thing she remembered most was the bright white hair, and those striking ice blue eyes widened in utter shock.

* * *

He had been able to wake up and retain consciousness more then she had. It was to be expected, he was a captain, even though his wounds were debatable about being worse then hers. The twelfth squad had been in charge of recreating the majority of his left side, since Aizen had sliced it off like butter. Eventually, he had regained his arm and other missing body parts. He had spent the last two days out of the twelfth barrack regaining his strength.

It was obvious to everyone around him that he was suffering. Socially, he had been withdrawn and reserved in the two days he had been up. He was in shock at what had happened. People around him theorized that since she was perhaps more then half of his childhood and care, he couldn't even comprehend that he had hurt her.

The depression he was suffering was quite a burden to watch for those who were closer with him. Matsumoto had tried several times to loosen him up, or even just talk to him, but he only returned with a few remarks, and then walked off with a zoned out look.

Sometimes they would find him on the roof, staring out at the sky or the stars. But other times, they wouldn't be able to find him. In truth, he would be off in a cave, training. Though he appeared to be lost all the time, he was actually thinking rationally. He had decided that if he couldn't protect her even from himself that he would completely master that power of his zanpaktou. That way, maybe he would be strong enough to see through the power of an enemies illusion.

He was in the cave right now. His breath was shown as fog in the air, from the sheer cold of his training grounds, and it came in quick rasps. Letting out another cry, he sent out an icy attack at a stalagmite he was imaging as Aizen. It snapped in half, but his stoic expression didn't change.

His Ryusenka still wasn't powerful enough.

Scowling, he sheathed his zanpaktou. The ice wings that were donned on his back from bankai materialized and he walked out of the ice cold cave. He had entered here early this morning, and it was now nightfall. The stars above him were just starting to appear, and glitter. It was here, away from the seireitei, that one could truly appreciate the night skies of the spirit world.

No one really understood why it replicated the sky of the world of the living if they were supposed to be the world of spirits. Perhaps they were in a dimension parallel to the world of the living, therefore having the same qualities. The whole concept was hard to grasp.

However, this wasn't what was on his mind. It was Momo he was thinking of, and he wanted to know if her regeneration was going well. Toshiro had been too scared to go and visit her in the past few days, knowing his presence might shock her. To him, that would be a slap to the face, and he didn't want to experience it. That's was why he was scared.

He put his arms behind his head and took his eyes off the night sky, and instead turned them upon the path back to the soul society. He'd been gone for a while now, he should probably go back so he didn't worry anyone.

* * *

Back at squad twelve, they were all breathing sighs of relief. Hinamori's before unstable condition had begun to stabilize out. However, that didn't account for the mental damage she had also taken.

In the front of squad twelve, Toshiro had his back against the wall next to the gate that went in. His turquoise eyes were trained on the moon. He was waiting for the lower seat gatekeeper of squad twelve to confirm with Kurotsuchi that he could visit. It probably wouldn't be a problem, seeing he was a captain.

His original goal had been to come back home, but he had the impulse to come see Momo. To be completely honest, he was extremely scared. He had heard Matsumoto talking to someone else without knowing he was there. Apparently, her mental condition was also quite a bit unstable. It was all because of him too.

He scowled.

When he dreamed at night, the only visions that graced his mind were the ones of him stabbing Momo. But in these ones, it was much worse. He not only stabbed Hinamori, he was a monster with no heart. In one dream, he was even working with Aizen against Hinamori. These dreams made increasingly hate himself, and he felt agony, even in his dreams. He felt the agony he had felt when he found out that he was the one who stabbed Momo.

The gatekeeper was taking to long, and he was chickening out. Toshiro started debating whether he should flash step the heck out of here, right as the gate swung open again.

"It's confirmed you may visit her sir, her condition has recently stabilized. Right this way." He motioned for the tenth squad captain to follow him.

Toshiro sighed and followed, he had to get this over with. Their footsteps clacked on the floor as the walked down the hallway. They walked what seemed like forever, before the finally stepped in front of her door.

"This is her room sir, call us if you need anything." With that, he walked off down the hallway.

His compulsion to open the door was great, but he had a revulsion to find out what might happen behind it. He winced and took the sliding wooden door in his hand. The hand that gripped the crevice used to open the door, calming his composure. Sliding the door open, he stepped into the room.

Toshiro let out a breath, she was sleeping. Relief coursed through his veins, and he turned around, not wanting to disturb her. That is, until he heard a small voice behind him.

"W-why are you here?"

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**Yeah, that cliffy just happened. Sorry, I didn't feel like putting anything else into this chapter. And yes, I know it's a bit short xD**


	3. Aftermath

**Hey guys! Sorry this is WAY late, but I've been busy lately. I'm not gonna drown you in excuses though, so here's the chapter :)  
**_(it's longer then the last on,_ yay!)

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Chapter 3: Aftermath

"W-why are you here?"

Toshiro's body instantly tensed with discomfort. He wasn't even sure how to answer that question himself, he had come on an impulse. But the fact he didn't know why he was there wasn't the cause of his discomfort. It was the fact that Momo sounded **scared **of him.

His frown deepened when realized that convincing her to trust him again would be harder then the last time he had to do it. This was the second time she had been mentally injured in a scenario with him in it. On the contrary, Aizen was also a great cause of these to instances, but Toshiro was obligated to feel like it was his fault. He had sworn to protect her after what happened first, but he had failed in the most disgraceful manner of hurting her with his own hands. It didn't matter that Aizen had aided it, he was in denial of that.

The thoughts whirred his head like a storm of angry bees. Head, and then slowly, his body turned around, coming to face her. He tried to smile at her, a rare sight for the small captain, but one she usually knew a sign of compassion from him,

"I'm glad you're okay Momo."

If the tension in the room hadn't been so thick he could cut it with a butter knife, he would've connected his hand with his face at his stupid one sentence reply to her. For crying out loud, he hadn't even answered her question!

Though he was beating himself up over it, they both knew that the one sentence had much more meaning to it then the way it sounded. His smile slowly eased away,

"Momo, I-..."

He didn't know what he was trying to say, and with that, he flash stepped out of the room.

* * *

She was **so **confused. He said he was glad she was okay, but wasn't he the one that hurt her? Maybe he wanted her to get better just so he could hurt her again- No. That wasn't it. That sincere comforting smile wouldn't come from a sadistic freak. Gripping her head, she turned over in her bed.

He seemed to be nervous when he came in, because he sighed in what seemed to be relief when she looked asleep. In truth, she had been trying to relax and figure out exactly where he fit in her life again. If a psychologist were to step back and look at Momo's symptom's, they would realize that she was experiencing a case of shock amnesia. It was a type of amnesia created by the brain, in order to cope with traumatic stress. Toshiro had been so important to her, that when he had stabbed her, her brain had automatically and subconsciously tried to erase him instead of dealing with the stress of facing with the fact that Shiro-chan had been the one to hurt her.

It was because she couldn't comprehend the scenario of him actually hurting her.

Momo didn't know this though. Her poor little mind was confused about everything that was going on. She dreamed of so many times she had shared with the snowy haired figure, and she didn't remember where he actually fit into her life.

Her eyes closed, and she decided to get some rest to heal, deciding to trifle over him later.

* * *

If there was ever a time where it was acceptable in a man's pride to actually cry, this would be that time for our poor little captain. He wasn't that kind of man though. All of his shock had begun to wear off, washing away with the wave of resentment. Resentment towards himself, of course.

Toshiro still remembered what he had thought when he was falling to what he had believed was his death. He had finally admitted to himself that he loved Momo, and not in the way that he had all the year he spent as a child with her. The way he had come to love Hinamori was less like a sibling and more like a lover. He desired her, he wanted to protect her with his life, and he wanted her to always be happy.

If there was a thing he had meant to say to her in there, it was an admittance of his love. But he was afraid. She wasn't ready to hear those words yet. She didn't even seem to remember him. It hurt so much knowing that she had felt such a powerful sense of betrayal that she had an acute stress reaction, and that it was his fault for being stupid.

There were a million excuses he was giving himself in blame for his cause of Momo's near death. Why wasn't he watching her spiritual pressure's location at all times? He knew Aizen could do the exact thing he had done, but he had still let it happen. Why wasn't he strong enough to see through an illusion? Ichigo had done it, he didn't care if Ichigo was the only one who hadn't seen Aizen's release.

The list of his anger towards himself stretched on and on.

He was mad at himself that he hadn't had the guts to tell her either, but that anger was also mixed with a bit of relief that he had some self restraint. Toshiro was pretty sure that if he had told her then, it definitely wouldn't help her mental status.

Sighing to himself, he walked slowly along the soul society's paths, and back to the tenth division's barracks. The moon was gorgeous tonight. It was full, and it's pale luster provided a natural lighting for the entire soul society.

When he got back the barracks, Matsumoto was waiting for him with her arms crossed,

"Where have you been taicho? It's later then usual that you're back. You know what, I need to talk to you! You need to stop pushing yourself! How do you think Momo would feel if she knew-"

He cut her off, "She can't even distinguish who I am at the moment, Matsumoto. I don't think she's really going care that I'm training to protect her more if she's not mentally stable enough to know. And yes, I did go to see her. It was only a reality check that I need to train harder, and I don't care if it pushes me, that's what training is SUPPOSED to do-"

This time SHE cut HIM off, "Do you hear yourself? Even if she's not mentally right at the moment, what do you thing she'll think when she wakes up? You're being ridiculous! You're being self destructive! You need to calm down and think how to get her back to normal, then maybe you can train. Just stop hurting yourself and the people around you!" Matsumoto pouted at him, and he turned away, furrowing his eyebrows in anger.

Rangiku sighed, he was being as obstinate as ever. She eyed him as he walked off, wondering when he would return to normal.

Toshiro returned to his room, huffing in frustration and going out onto the small balcony his room as a captain offered him. Deciding not to sit, he leaned up against the railing, staring out into the garden that he had built for scenery and relaxation.

Rangiku's words had made sense, but that's probably why they pissed him off even more then usual. It was a touchy subject, his training to protect Momo, and both he and Matsumoto argued over it frequently. However, he didn't know that he had been worrying EVERYONE. His frowned deepened at that though. He didn't need to worrying then entire squad (and possibly others) with his behavior.

Perhaps he would consider lessening some of his as of late 'emo' attitude in the near future. Sighing for what seemed like the millionth time that night, he decided to just relax. He easily jumped up to the roof, and settled onto the shingling.

As he lay on the rough surface, he looked to the skies. The moon was beautiful tonight, and quite full. He then realized that this was the second time he had thought this tonight. This thought caused to him to notice his quickly tiring body, and in chain reaction, caused him to rub his eyes.

The roof he lay on was surprisingly comforting, warm from the day, but there was still a nice cool breeze rustling through his hair. His lids dropped their heavy wait and shut, his arms folded in to hug his body, and he drifted off beneath the dark sky.

He dreamed more peacefully that night, regardless of his conflicting mind.

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**Hopefully there'll be more soon! Maybe even a bit longer of a chapter ;)**


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